Protocol no bar to KZN's kingmaker kid

11 December 2016 - 02:00 By QAANITAH HUNTER
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Thanduxolo Sabelo says he is to presidential hopeful Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma what Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula was to President Jacob Zuma in the run-up to the 2007 ANC conference.

ANCYL provincial secretary Thanduxolo Sabelo.
ANCYL provincial secretary Thanduxolo Sabelo.
Image: Supplied via Facebook

But is the KwaZulu-Natal ANC Youth League secretary's vocal support for Dlamini-Zuma not in fact hurting her campaign?

He is no Julius Malema, at least not yet, but Sabelo has a way of rubbing people up the wrong way when he speaks on contentious matters.

Despite the ANC ordering that members should not talk about their preferred candidates to replace Zuma until the party's nomination process is open, Sabelo has not minced his words in saying that the youth league wants Dlamini-Zuma as the next president.

He has also become the public face of those calling on Zuma to fire cabinet ministers and deputy ministers who called on the president to step down at a recent ANC national executive committee meeting.

He has insisted on a cabinet reshuffle - even when ANC leaders such as secretary-general Gwede Mantashe have said ministers should not be punished for what they say in closed meetings and in their capacity as elected ANC leaders.

Sabelo this week told the Sunday Times that he believed Dlamini-Zuma would make a great president because she had been a success in past ministerial posts in the health, foreign affairs and home affairs portfolios.

She was not scandal-prone, he said, and could have already been president in 2009 had the Thabo Mbeki slate won the Polokwane ANC conference in 2009.

"In Polokwane, Mama Nkosazana was on what you guys in the media call the slate to be deputy president to Comrade Thabo Mbeki," he said.

"Comrade Mbeki could not [continue to be] president of the state. So that means in 2009 she would have been president of the state.

"If she was ready from 2009 to be president of the country ... no one can say she's not ready to be president [now]," Sabelo said.

He is said to have close relations with powerful ANC provincial chairman Sihle Zikalala.

The youth league has claimed credit for Zikalala's political rise in the province and the downfall of former premier Senzo Mchunu - who was defeated by Zikalala for the chairmanship last year.

But Sabelo this week denied any close relations with Zikalala.

"We are not friends," he said.

Sabelo, insiders said, influenced the national leaders of the league through secretary-general Njabulo Nzuza, who also hails from KwaZulu-Natal.

Because the ANC succession debate has not been officially opened, Nzuza told the Sunday Times, he had chastised Sabelo for publicly pronouncing Dlamini-Zuma the league's candidate.

"We can't be preaching unity while throwing names around," he said.

But Sabelo defended himself, saying that, as an elected provincial leader, he had the right to lobby for a candidate.

"The campaign for President Zuma was led by president of the youth league [at the time] Fikile Mbalula. We can't be divorced from the leadership race of the ANC," he said.

Sabelo shot to notoriety this year when he called National Freedom Party leader Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi a "little girl". He was later made to apologise.

The 29-year-old from Umbumbulu, south of Durban, is a relatively new leader in ANC Youth League politics.

He took up the provincial leadership in June last year, before which he had served as eTthekwini leader for two years.

Sabelo said he joined the ANC in 2003 when he was 16, inspired by ANC Youth League firebrand leader Peter Mokaba.

He was elected president of the student representative council when he studied political science at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, from which he graduated in 2009.

Sabelo spoke of his admiration for Zuma, who he calls his "role model and hero".

Some claim he is a grandson of late IFP leader Winnington Sabela, who was based in Umlazi.

But Sabelo - who uses an Umlazi address in official documents - this week denied any relation to the late IFP leader.

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